KEY POINTS:
Maija VanceMaija Vance has a bit to live up to in Race 6 at Te Rapa today.
And it's not just starting from the outside barrier No 14 on Sila Jasak in her first raceday ride.
Her parents, Bob and Jenny, are both group one-winning former jockeys.
But rather than the 17-year-old signing on with her parents who train at Ardmore, she is apprenticed to Pukekohe trainer Gareth McRae.
"It's just that mum and dad still ride their own work and with their stable at Takanini they can bring the horses to Ardmore only two at a time.
"With greater horse numbers at Pukekohe, there are more opportunities for me to ride there."
Not surprisingly, she first sat on a horse as a young child. She was riding slow work at Takanini at the age of 12 then spent several years competing in the pony club and show-jumping field.
Bob Vance came to prominence in the mid-1970s as the apprentice rider of champion 3 -year-old Uncle Remus and headed the New Zealand jockeys' premiership in the 1978-79 season.
He is perhaps best remembered for his association with the mighty McGinty and his victory on that colt over the eventual Golden Slipper winner Marscay in the Todman Slipper Trial in which McGinty cracked a cannon bone.
The pair returned to Sydney the next season and won the Canterbury Guineas.
His other major wins included the Cox Plate on The Phantom Chance, Auckland Cups on Tamboura and Blue Denim and Derbies on Uncle Remus, Isle Of Man, I'm Henry and The Phantom Chance.
Bob Vance met Swedish jockey Jenny Moller while the pair were riding in Macau. They married in Sweden and returned to New Zealand where Jenny Vance won the group one Avondale Cup on Beowulf after being successful in her first New Zealand raceday ride on Flashing Willow.
Maija Vance is yet another example of young riders being produced by former topline jockeys in New Zealand.
We have Danielle Johnson, daughter of Peter Johnson; Troy Harris, son of Noel Harris; Sam Collett, daughter of Jim Collett and Trudy Thornton; Richard and Judy Collett's daughter Tasha Collett; and James McDonald, whose father Brett McDonald was a top jumps jockey.
Maija Vance has ridden a good number of barrier trial winners.
Her father was noted for his coolness and his daughter said she was not too concerned about having such a wide barrier draw in her first raceday ride.
Sila Jasak was the last of six runners when resuming on her home track at Pukekohe on December 17, but she was only three lengths away and should be a lot fitter for today's assignment.
In February and March last year she scored back-to-back Ellerslie victories in strong company before being narrowly beaten into second by Twinkthat in the listed SI Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes at Riccarton and was then spelled.
